1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic dialing apparatus which stores telephone numbers and automatically transmits a dial signal in accordance with a stored telephone number by a simple operation, and more particularly, to an automatic dialing apparatus which can variably set a pause time which is necessary when, for example, the apparatus is connected to an extension of an automatic switching system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional automatic dialing apparatus, connected to an extension of an automatic switching system, generally first performs zero calling when calling an external subscriber. Since the time period at which it becomes possible to transmit a dial signal to the outside subscriber, after the zero calling, differs depending on the switchboard, a call may not be performed by an automatic dialing apparatus if the pause time after zero calling is fixed.
In order to provide variable pause times after zero calling, a method disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-11100 (1987) has, for example, been known.
In this method, a pause key is provided. In accordance with n times of operations of the key, n pause codes are stored, and in accordance with the stored n pause codes, a pause time which equals n times a unit time is generated.
However, in the above-described method in which the pause key is depressed a plurality of times corresponding to the required pause time, and the corresponding pause codes are stored in a memory, only pause times equal to nt seconds can be set, where n is an integer, and a pause time corresponding to one pause code is represented by t seconds.
Accordingly, if the time t is set to t=3 which corresponds to a response time of about 3 seconds for catching an external subscriber adopted in a majority of switchboards, the number n must be set to n=2 (6 seconds) when the apparatus is connected to a switchboard having a response time of about 4 seconds. Thus, a useless time of about 2 seconds results.
If the time t is set to t=1 in order to minimize such useless time, the number n must always be set to n=3 if the apparatus is connected to a switchboard having a response time of about 3 seconds for catching an external subscriber, which is adopted in a majority of switchboards. Hence, the pause key must always be depressed three times, on unnecessarily troublesome operation. Furthermore, a case may arise in which all the digits of the subscriber's telephone number cannot be stored within the memory since the stored pause codes occupy a considerable part of the memory.